The Story of a Minifigure: Strange Odd Shadow
Chapter 1: Lost A lone figure stood in the midst of the near-empty meadow. A few steps away from the site of his recently crashed rocket, Strange Odd Shadow was lost in his thoughts. Green hills framed the grassy plain, but his surroundings had barely registered with the young man. He’d scarcely noticed his own injuries from the crash after all. He’d been pretty shaken by what he had just lived through. He’d been reminded of the cruel reality of the world when he’d arrogantly started to believe he could overcome all obstacles. But he was far too little compared to the darkness of the Maelstrom. The threat of the Maelstrom wasn’t new to him. After all, that was why he was joining the Nexus Force: to fight the force of chaos that brought only destruction and death. But the Maelstrom itself had prevented him. Separated him from his friends. Forced him to flee to this place called Avant Gardens, not quite his destination. He was alone now. No friends, no allies, no information on his location. He had already noticed servants of the Maelstrom loitering here and there in the otherwise empty meadow. If he explored the world more, he was sure to find it swarming with them. It was closer to the centre of the Crux System after all, where the power of the Maelstrom was the strongest. He didn’t have much hope he could fight them. It was fully infected minifigures he was dealing with –though after the corruption of their Imagination whether or not they could be called minifigures, Touched by Imagination, was questionable. He’d had trouble fighting half-infected ones before and now he was without weapon –for he had lost his crossbow– and facing far more dangerous enemies. He couldn’t defend himself. What about the other passengers of the ship? Many of them were bound to have little to no combat experience. Would they be okay? He knew they were within the Nimbus System, so the Nexus Force couldn’t be that far away, but even that little distance separating them could be critical for their survival. If the Force found them, they’d be safe. But could they make it till then? Could he? He sure could use the help of Tony at a moment like this. Shadow sighed. His friends. Would he see them again? Everything had happened so quickly, he wasn’t sure when exactly they got separated. But they had and now he might never find them again. When the Maelstrom struck, they’d been instructed to head for the Avant Gardens, but the world was surrounded by many more smaller chunks of Crux and pursued by the Maelstrom, there was no guarantee where they’d ended up. In fact, who knew whether they’d even made it anywhere? As far as his eye could reach, he was the only person –uninfected that is– in a pretty expansive area. That alone spoke volumes of how scattered the passengers of the Venture Explorer had been. In conclusion, he had no clue where his friends could be. Had he lost them forever? Sarah. Tony. Kate. His hand unconsciously slipped into his pocket and felt a coin inside. When he realised what he was doing, he was reassured to find it there. He’d feared he might have lost it, too. Memories he’d made with his friends in Yorkanton City flashed through his mind. They had been his whole world the last few years. What would he do without them? Engrossed in his thoughts as he was, he did not notice the approach of another creature, despite its heavy steps and loud breath. Coloured in shades of black and purple, it was shaped like a human, but its humanity was long lost. Its skin turned dark and wrinkled, its bones bared in places from anything other than thin translucent tissue, its skeletal figure covered in tattered clothes, having a crooked blade instead of an arm and an ominous purple aura akin to flames engulfing it, the creature couldn't look more grotesque. A red light glowed on its eyes as it looked at Shadow with a wild look of hatred. The creature growled angrily and charged towards Shadow. It was only then that the absent-minded minifigure was drawn out of his daydreaming and he finally saw it coming. He recognised it as a servant of chaos; a human turned by dark forces to the Maelstrom, mindlessly serving its will. Fear struck through him. He had little time to react and he was defenceless. Taken by surprise it didn't even occur to him to run. He simply stared at the malicious red eyes approaching him. In a second, the ghastly being was upon him raising its blade-arm to strike. Finally, at the realisation of the impeding doom, Strange Odd Shadow broke out of his shock and dodged. As the creature’s –known as a stromling to the Nexus Force, if he recalled correctly– arm dug into the earth, he seized the chance to kick it on the stomach, pushing it backwards. The stromling stumbling a couple of steps, he proceeded to turn tail and run away. After a moment of daze as a result, the stromling followed in pursuit, snarling loudly. With a rabid look on its eyes, saliva spilling from its open mouth, it came after him faster than he could run. If he didn't do anything about it, it'd soon catch up. Noticing a tree nearby, he ran towards it only to suddenly change direction once he was almost upon it. The stromling, having greater momentum and lower intelligence, couldn't avoid it in time and crashed onto its trunk. As he moved away, he laughed at the success of his plan. He had been stunned earlier, but with his gears turning again, he could use his one advantage over the beast-like stromlings: his brain. However, his exultation didn't last long as with all the commotion two more stromlings were alerted of his presence and proceeded to chase after him. Running as fast as his legs could take him, he tried to think of another trick to use on multiple Maelstromlings, but there wasn’t a lot of time. The creatures of Maelstrom, whose number continued to increase, were getting closer and closer. He had no weapon to fight them… Only his creativity… Wait, that was it! How could he be so stupid? Shadow focused, while opening his backpack. He then pointed his arm forward almost as if ordering an invisible army to attack and little pieces of clay flew out of the backpack. However, as they all moved towards the direction his arm pointed at, they began to grow until they’d assumed the size of proper bricks. Bricks that flying quickly came together to build a makeshift wall just as he’d envisioned. Built from the edges to the middle wall, he had just enough time to pass through before the inner gap of the wall closed, blocking passage to all the stromlings following him. They weren’t smart enough to think to go around it in time and all smashed onto it. Shadow could hear them from the other side of the wall. They’d find the right way quickly enough, so he hadn’t shaken them off forever, but it should give a good distance for the moment. He came to a part of the plain where the ground grew uphill, before it became downhill, blocking the view of what was beyond. Shadow climbed up the slope where he was finally met with his first good news. Or were they? From the top, he could see a building, some facility of sorts, but it was half-wrecked and the Maelstrom had left its signs on it. Still, it wasn’t completely overtaken by it, so he wasn’t sure what’d he’d find there. He could only hope for help. Looking over his shoulder at his pursuers, closing in on him again, he sprinted the last distance towards the lone facility. As he approached, one door opened and a man emerged from it. “Get down!” the man yelled and Shadow obeyed falling down face-first, hoping that whatever the man was about to do, he'd do it fast enough before the stromlings caught up. By the time he rolled around, he'd already heard several objects whiz over him and looking at the stromlings, he noticed a dagger embedded on each one’s chest. The creatures of chaos stopped in their tracks, looking down at their wounds with confusion. A moment later, they started convulsing violently, purple and red fluid erupting from their mouth. They struggled for a few seconds before they finally collapsed, any semblance of life they previously had now absent from their eyes. Shadow was frankly somewhat shocked from the gruesome sight of what, for all he knew, might have been the stromlings' insides exploding. Nonetheless, he turned to his saviour to express his gratitude, but was surprised yet again when he noticed the man's hands were covered in the very same purple aura as the creatures he'd just felled. Not only that, but he was also wearing bandages in places and an eye-patch over his left eye. Had he been in an accident or perhaps a fight gone wrong? “Th- thank you”, the young man said, shaking off that train of thought as too personal. “How did you do that?” he pointed to the remains of the stromlings. “Not here. It's still dangerous. Come inside”. The man led Shadow inside the building he'd come out of, closing the door behind them and locking it by typing a password into a keypad. By the look of it, not even the rabid stromlings could force their way in (or out) through the heavy metal door and its sophisticated locking system. The door led into a corridor that looked like it belonged to a research facility or hospital. Its plain white walls still gave you that clean sterile impression even with the thick layer of dust that had come to rest upon them. The doors on either side of them were also metal and almost as secure, by the looks of it, as the first one. Signs indicated the purpose of the rooms that lay on the other side of them. Shadow noted Microbiology Lab and Floral Research ''on some of the nearby ones and figured it was a research facility after all. “Do you conduct biology research here?” he asked, as the man started walking down the corridor. “Yes and no. This is a Maelstrom Research Facility. We study all matters Maelstrom and that includes biological topics, too. Though there hasn't been much actual research done in a while”. Maelstrom Research... Well, it made sense that people would want to study it, but he'd never thought about it too much. He wondered what they intended to do with it. Understanding the Maelstrom could be useful, but it could also turn sinister. “More importantly, though, how did you get here? Did you leave the Camp alone and got lost? Why did you not carry a weapon at least?” the man asked as he stopped in front of a door that was labelled as the ''Break Room. “Not quite. I crash landed nearby”, Shadow explained. “I was aboard the Venture Explorer, you see, but it got attacked by Maelstrom”. “The Explorer was...? What happened to everyone? How's Bob? Sky? The crew?” the man's mostly expressionless, slightly melancholic face finally formed an expression of concern as he turned from the door's keypad to face Shadow. “I'm afraid I don't know. Mr. Bob and Captain Lane were guiding the recruits till the last I saw of them, but we were all so rushed to leave the ship that I really don't know what happened to anyone. Didn't even manage to meet up with my own friends”. Once again, he got an empty feeling at the pit of his stomach. This conversation was reminding him of everything that had been worrying him earlier and it was getting him depressed quickly. The other man didn't look much better, as he processed the information. He opened his mouth to speak, but then after a few moments of silence, decided to close it again. He turned back to the keypad and opened the door, ushering Shadow in. The room on the other side was populated with several tables and chairs around them, but no people. It largely looked abandoned, much like the corridor actually, except for a single table, on top of which several objects were laid out, from clothes to research notes. The man walked to said table and slumped on a chair, looking quite lost. Shadow joined him, sitting down on another chair and took his time examining the mismatched objects: a radio, a walkie-talkie, a towel, a dirty shirt, an unfinished plate of pasta, various stacks of papers that looked like research notes and more. He looked to the man, considered addressing him, then realised he still didn't know his name. “Uhm. Might I know your name?” he asked awkwardly. “It's Wisp Lee”, he replied laconically. “And you?” “You can call me Strange Odd Shadow”. That wasn't of course his actual given name, but it was a nickname he'd chosen for himself in the three-word fashion he'd heard the Nexus-Forcers chose their codenames. “I see. So, I assume you're looking to join the Nexus Force then?” Wisp Lee enquired, having regained his composure and returned to his melancholic resting face. “That's right. Why, can you contact them?” “Well yeah, considering I'm Nexus Force myself. After all, this is a Paradox facility”. Shadow's eyes lit up, as he realised there may be hope yet, “Can you do that?” “Yeah. I should probably contact Epsilon. I can't leave the facility myself, but Epsilon's in the area so he could pick you up probably”, Wisp Lee told him, while he grabbed the walkie-talkie on the table. Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel. He could join the Nexus Force. He could get the resources to be able to fight the Maelstrom. He could use their help to look for his friends. He could find his friends. “Epsilon, you there? Epsilon, can you hear me?” Wisp talked to the radio-telephone. “Epsilon here, I hear you loud and clear. Anything I can do for you? Over” a voice was heard through the static. For sure, he'd find his friends. . . ~~~***---***~~~ The spaceship, overtaken by purple mist and flames, now floated in stasis in the middle of space near the bright green world of Avant Gardens. A figure of darkness sat before a wide hole made in the Venture Explorer’s hull, unfazed by the emptiness of the void leaking in through it and examining the world that lay below. The Avant Gardens’ life and brilliance was in stark contrast to the dull dead shell of a ship the Explorer had been reduced to. “The targets escaped to the Gardens”, the dark man spoke. “Shall I track them down?” There was a shift in the movement of the mist, creating little vortices in the air that came together to form the vague shape of a humanoid figure. “There’s no need for that. I can use my own eyes”, a voice coming from the nebulous figure replied. “Besides, they can’t get far either way”. “In that case, I’ll get ready for the hunt”. “Yes. Soon they will be mine”. . . Bewαre of the shαdows becαuse I might be there. Chapter 2: En Route to the Nexus Force West of the Paradox Research Facility lies a field. In the centre of that field stands a rock formation, a tall landmark to be seen from a great distance away. On the side of the location, there’s a small sheltered plateau. On top of that plateau, one will often find the camp of the man by name Epsilon Starcracker when he’s on a scouting mission. In that instance, a flustered Strange Odd Shadow climbed onto the plateau to find three men and a woman hiding in the shelter of the location, surrounded by camping supplies. Two of them were rather plain-looking in clothing compared to the other two, who were clad in futuristic metal outfits, one in orange colours the other in blue. The man in blue attire, previously occupied with looking over the rocks at the encompassing field, now turned to examine the newcomer. There was something in his face maybe that made Shadow think he was the one in charge and most likely the man he was looking for. “Are you Epsilon?” he asked. “I was not under the impression that it was considered good manners nowadays for strangers to address one another by first name”, the man replied in a disapproving tone. “I’m Epsilon Starcracker. And I presume you’re one of the passengers of the Explorer”. “That’s correct. As for my form of addressing you, Wisp Lee didn’t happen to mention your last name”, Shadow responded, perhaps ever slightly indignantly. “Oh, you’re the one from the Facility. Where’s Wisp? Didn’t he say he was coming with?” “He’s just behind me, dealing with a couple stromlings that took interest in us. Didn’t you see us coming from here?” “My attention was engaged otherwise”, Epsilon pointed in the distance where a mass of purple –a closer look revealed it to be made up of many smaller parts; perhaps stromlings– was moving towards them. “Ominous”. “Very. We’ll have to move out shortly to avoid meeting with them”, Epsilon said looking in the direction Shadow had come from. “Now, what’s taking Wisp so long? Quantum, why don’t you go have a look?” “Yes sir”, the man in orange gear obeyed and was soon out of sight. “I don’t believe you told your name by the way”, Epsilon turned back to him. “It’s Strange Odd Shadow”. “Well, aren’t you eager? In any case, these are Karen and Jethro. They were passengers aboard the Explorer along with you”, Epsilon waved in the general direction of the other two people there. Shadow examined the two of them and confirmed that he didn’t really recognise them. That didn’t surprise him though, seeing as the Venture Explorer’s passengers were held in cryo-sleep chambers for the majority of the journey’s duration. They looked a little ruffled, maybe somewhat scared –Jethro especially, a boy barely out of his teens it seemed, was rather fidgety–, but Shadow thought that made sense considering the situation. In fact, for all he knew he might have been giving the very same impression himself. Just as they waved awkwardly at each other in greeting, Wisp Lee and the other person, Quantum, appeared on the plateau. The bandaged man looked fine, but maybe his cheeks were flushed, most likely as the result of his engagement in combat. “Ah there you are Wisp! Thanks, Quantum. Was there an issue?” “Nothing in particular. Just an over-abundance of pests”, Wisp answered nonchalantly “So, I can leave Strange Odd Shadow to your care then?”. “I’ll take good care of him, Wisp, don’t worry. You can go back to the Facility”, Epsilon spoke as he aimed his gun between Quantum and Shadow, firing a cyan ray which struck a stromling that’d showed up nearby. “We’re going to move out soon, so if you meet any more lost newbies, you’d better just wait for a drop-ship to come your way and pick them up”. “Thanks. I’ll do that. Strange Odd Shadow, stay safe. Everyone, good luck. I’ll take my leave now”, the man sluggishly waved two fingers before making a turn on the spot and walking away. “Will he be okay?” Karen asked, following the scientist with her eyes. “You needn’t worry about him. Wisp can look out for himself. Worry about yourselves instead. Do any of you have a weapon?” None of the three former passengers of the Explorer spoke up and Jethro shook his head no. “Thought so. Luckily enough, I tend to store some spares here, so I can equip you with something. One second”, Epsilon told them as he entered the upper half of his body into a small tent, apparently looking for something. A few moments later, he came out holding a bag, which he offered to the recruits. “They’re nothing special, but it’s the best you’ve got if you find yourselves alone with a stromling”. “You won’t protect us?” Jethro squeaked anxiously. “We will, of course, do our best. But what will you do if we get separated or killed?” Jethro’s face grew pale, “That might happen?” “Sir, I think you’re scaring him too much”, Quantum interjected. “Anyway, just pick a weapon out of these”, the scout pointed to the bag he’d placed down before them. With Karen’s initiative, they found a small selection of weapons inside, a few swords sheathed in simple scabbards, a couple of spears and even a hammer, whose handlebar was long enough so that it could be used in combat. The three young recruits made to examine the different choices, but Epsilon’s “And please be quick about it” hurried them just a bit. Jethro picked a sword in the end and Karen selected a spear. Shadow, himself, thought that those choices required some skill to be used effectively, something which he honestly lacked. The hammer, on the other hand, could deal its damage even if you were clumsy with it as long as you put force into your blows. He picked the weapon to feel its weight and found out it was lighter than he’d thought. With that concern out of the way, he too made his choice and proceeded to hang the hammer from his belt. In the meantime, Starcracker had collected some supplies into a backpack that he now wore on his back, “Good, you’re all ready then. Let’s head out”. Before beginning the road down the plateau, Shadow gave a last look to the purple mass in the distance. It had gotten closer in the time that’d passed. He couldn’t quite tell what speed it was moving with, yet. Could it possibly reach them? “Come, you don’t want to stay behind”, Quantum called to him. “Don’t fret about it”, he added glancing at the Maelstrom crowd. “It’s probably a horde moving randomly through the meadows. We can easily avoid it”. “Does this kind of thing happen often?” Shadow asked, as they started walking behind the others. “Not particularly. But it’s not unheard of”. Catching up with Epsilon and the other two, Shadow noted that the former was on the radio talking to ‘Base’, informing them they were leaving Camp Site Beta and should be expected in four to five hours. “Looks like a long walk...” Shadow sighed. “Why can’t we ride on one of those airships?” Jethro enquired, seeing one of them fly high in the sky far from them; indeed, Shadow had noticed them go about a few times, too, on his way to the camp site. “Your fellow passengers have landed all over this world, you know”, Epsilon explained. “We’ve dispatched all of our available aircraft to find them all before the stromlings do. Most of them don’t have the luxury of a senior member of the Force protecting them. Everyone else has priority now, so the drop-ships can’t be spared for us. Unless there’s an emergency, we’re walking”. Thus began their long trek across the meadows of Avant Gardens. It would have been like a nice walk in the park –the Gardens were really beautiful–, if it weren’t for the occasional stromling showing up only to be swiftly killed by Epsilon, the ever-present fear that more than just that might attack them and the remembrance every once in a while of how long they still had ahead of them. To pass the time (and perhaps to calm his juniors’ spirits), Quantum entertained everyone with stories about Avant Gardens, explaining how it was first a man by the name of Preston Southeast who made it his home there in order to take advantage of the mines in the area; and the parks of his and his eventual neighbours’ houses were called the Avant Gardens. “And the train station that was built in a nearby village was called Nimbus Station, the one you might have heard as one of the Nexus Force’s important bases. It’s separated from this world nowadays, though”. “You seem to have a rather good knowledge of Batheian history”, Shadow noted. “And yet from your accent I’d say you’re North-Expian, right?” “Ah yes. Since I joined the Nexus Force, I’ve done my studying, talked to the locals. It’s good to have an understanding of the places the Nexus Force’s made its bases at. What about you, though? You sound South-Expian, if I’m not wrong”, Quantum replied cheerfully. “I’m from Yorkanton actually”. “Aah. That’s a strange place you’re from. Don’t I hear they don’t let their people go outside the city’s borders? How did you get out?” “My friends and I weren’t on the best of terms with the authorities there, so I don’t suppose they were that sad to see us go”, Shadow’s face took a derisive expression. “They did give us some trouble, still, though”. “Oh, you’ve got friends joining with you?” The young man paused slightly, his features growing dark, “Yes… but I don’t know where they are now. We got separated in the ship...” he let his voice fade, implying but not uttering his concerns out loud. “Oh. I’m sorry… I should have realised… Don’t worry, though. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Maybe they’re already at the Base Camp, safe and sound”, the Nexus-Forcer tried to reassure him. There was a short silence before Quantum changed the subject: “But how about you guys, Karen, Jethro? Where are ''you ''from?” It turned out Karen was Zytherian and Jethro was from Dumania. Quantum started a discussion with them about their homelands. Shadow listened for he was also interested about foreign lands, but only absent-mindedly, missing parts of the conversation whenever his train of thought took a turn of its own. It was about then that Starcracker abruptly came to a stop. “And that’s the weird thing about it, today’s children, the next generation’s adults won’t even remember what their homes were like before the explosion. In this state of shuffled chunks, the feeling of nationality might get entirely- Sir, is there a problem?” Quantum interrupted his impromptu speech upon seeing the scout stop. “That Maelstrom horde. It’s gotten closer. At a concerning speed and it seems to be headed our way”. Indeed, upon looking back Shadow found that the purple mass, whose parts could now a lot more clearly be distinguished as different creatures, had approached them dangerously much. Judging by the distance it must have crossed in that time, the horde would reach them in maybe half an hour, if they didn’t change course. “We’ll have to take a detour to avoid meeting with them. Come, this way”. Whereas until then, the group had been taking a very direct route towards where the Base Camp presumably were, now Epsilon led them off their path and in the direction of some hills. While Quantum had been able to keep a relatively cheerful atmosphere previously, everyone stayed quite after this, a lot more aware of the looming danger of the host of stromlings. Shadow caught Jethro and Karen glancing back to check its position several times, but he didn’t blame them for he did the same thing, too. In fact, it was rather infectious. Climbing up the hills had all the recruits panting; none of them seemed to be particularly fit and they’d already been pretty walking in a fast pace for a while. Upon reaching the top, they stopped to rest for a minute and Epsilon passed around a bottle of water. From there, one could see all of the Avant Gardens for kilometres. However, the view wasn’t good. “Well, it can’t be denied now”, Epsilon said. “It’s definite they’ve changed directions as well. They’re still headed towards us”. “You think they’re following us?” Karen asked. “Normally, a typical stromling wouldn’t be able to tell apart a person’s creative spark to the Imagination in the air and they don’t have the intelligence to take interest in moving figures so far away from them. Plus, I don’t think a group of five people would be enough to have them moving in a pack. I don’t see how or why they’d be following us”, Quantum gave his opinion. “And yet here they are inexplicably changing course...” Epsilon considered the situation. “We can’t be sure yet that it wasn’t random. Let’s change paths again and see if they still follow us”. As they descended the hills, Starcracker took an opposite turn than he had before, leading them back the way they were previously going in. Everyone was on edge now, watching the stromlings constantly to see if they’ll turn as well. Why would they be following them, though? Quantum’s explanation had been very logical. If they were pursuing the five of them, did this mean there was something more fouler at play? Either way, they absolutely had to avoid crossing ways with the mob. He wondered if there were more such hordes in Avant Gardens currently, terrorising other passengers of the Explorers; or perhaps his friends. On the other side of the hills, a small patch of forest to their left interrupted the Gardens’ otherwise endless sea of grass. As they approached it, Jethro spoke up “Should we hide in there maybe?” “I doubt it will do us any good”, Epsilon gave his answer. “If they really are coming after us, I don’t think its cover will stop them and at the same time we’ll lose visual contact with them. We won’t know if they’re following us”. They decided to stay out of the forest, but stuck close to it in order to go through the shortest possible route. Shadow watched the trees, wondering if something might show up from their shadows. Rather than his eyes, though, he tried to keep his ears open; if anything came he’d probably hear of it before he saw it. “How much longer have we got after this?” Jethro asked a little later, when they were about halfway through getting past the forest. “A little short of four hours”, Starcracker grunted, possibly realising that he might have to hear this question many times, yet. Jethro groaned, “What? We’ve been walking all this time and we still have four more hours? Four hours while chased by this… thing”. “Yes, we did take a detour after all. Now be quiet, I’m trying to listen”. “Listen to what?” At that moment, as if answering to Jethro’s whimper, a loud crunch was heard akin to the breaking of dry leaves by the foot crushing them. Then, more steps were heard, multiple feet of multiple beings. “Get back!” Epsilon yelled and the three recruits rushed backwards; Shadow drew his hammer. In an instant, several stromlings appeared out of the woods in a cacophony of growls and screeches, jumping to where they’d been standing just a moment ago. Shadow counted at least fifteen. The ones that charged at Epsilon met an inglorious fate, as they were quickly taken out by his gun. In fact, the man shot as many of the creatures as he could before they passed him by. Quantum, on the other hand, had somehow managed to build a fortified turret around him before the Stromlings reached him; Shadow was amazed at how quickly he’d done it, even if he was using Imagination. Right when the turret started rapidly firing, Shadow’s attention was drawn by one of the stromlings that had slipped through both the Nexus-Forcers and was charging towards him. His mind in disarray from the fear –it wasn’t the first time he saw or faced a stromling, but the rabid deformed creatures didn’t get any less scary, especially considering that his previous times hadn’t gone very well either–, he madly swung his hammer, hoping to not to miss. With a thud, the hammerhead hit the stromling on the head, causing it to stumble a few steps backwards. Examining the injury, he realised he’d left a dent to the Maelstrom being’s forehead with blood and purple goo bleeding out of it. A little shocked at the wound he himself had inflicted, he waited expecting the stromling to collapse after such a critical injury. However, it instead turned its face back to him, growling angrily. It raised its blade-arm to strike, but the panicked Shadow flailed his weapon once more, this time connecting with its chest. He quite distinctly heard a cracking sound and yet the humanoid monster was still undeterred. It swung its blade and he dodged, but fell down in the process. Another attack and he’d be gone for, but just in time one of Epsilon Starcracker’s blue rays struck its back and the stromling stopped moving –barring some twitching– before it could finish its wild assault. It lifelessly dropped to the ground and Shadow hastily rolled aside to avoid being touched by its misty skin. A scorched patch, a burn that went deep into its flesh reaching the very heart, had been left on its back, still smoking. He looked away from the grotesque sight, but begrudgingly wondered why his weapon wasn’t as effective as Epsilon’s or Wisp’s all the same. Getting up, he heard a scream and found the source of it had been Karen who was now being chased by a stromling that had a spear sticking through its stomach. Quantum rushed to aid her catching up and hitting it with his strangely shaped weapon, creating a spark on impact, killing it instantly. Starcracker had also just eliminated the last two stromlings, thus bringing an end to the battle. “Is everybody all right?” he asked, while checking them out with his eyes himself; before anyone could get a chance to reply, he continued anyway. “Good, we’re running. Let’s hurry”. Confused but trusting in their leader’s orders, they began running as Epsilon had instructed; Karen didn’t even get a chance to get back her spear. She asked what was going on and Shadow might have done the same, but he quickly came to a conclusion and looking back, he confirmed the reason that had sent the scout in such a hurry: in the time it’d taken them to defeat the stromlings, the Maelstrom horde had grown dangerously close and there was no longer any doubt that it was following them. Epsilon didn’t even bother to answer, instead producing his walkie-talkie and turning it on, “Come in, Base, do you copy?” he spoke loudly and worriedly. “This is Sentinel Base Camp, We copy, Eagle Five. What’s your status?” a voice in the radio-telephone responded. “We need a drop-ship to pick us up asap! We’re being pursued by a Maelstrom horde. Send it to my coordinates immediately!” “We hear you, Eagle Five. Nexus Talon Delta-Forty-Two will be with you shortly. Hang in there till then”. Shadow wasn’t sure how reassured he was by ‘shortly’. He feared the Maelstrom beings’ might reach them even more shortly. He could already make out the wild stromlings in a lot of detail, manically running after them, some of them on all fours, their red eyes locked on them. Beyond the regular infected humans, however, there was also another kind of creature, looking like a misshapen blob of purple with four legs, two gun-loaded short arms and many irregularly placed eyes. They were vaguely reminiscent to spiders. He believed he’d seen a similar Maelstromling before, but that one had been a lot bigger. The similarity didn’t predispose him well to them. The distance between them was pretty short and getting shorter by the minute. Realising what was going on with a yelp, Jethro had started running with everything he’d got and seeing him, everyone followed his example. Nevertheless, the Maelstrom-enhanced creatures were still faster than them by a long shot. He could hear Jethro muttering something under his breath that might have been a prayer. Shadow wanted to tell him that he was wasting precious breath, but couldn’t speak up about it in the end; perhaps a good prayer would help them more than slightly more oxygen. “Come in, Eagle Five. This is Falcon Seven”, another voice spoke on the radio suddenly. “Delta-Forty-Two will be in your location in sixteen seconds, prepare for boarding”. Sixteen seconds. Could they make it for sixteen seconds? Shadow’s legs were already hurting, but he was pushing himself as long as he could make it. He wasn’t completely out of breath, yet. And at least… it was fifteen seconds now. He glanced back. He was met with a plethora of bloodthirsty eyes and drooling mouths, but they hadn’t reached them, yet. Fourteen… Thirteen… The seconds, counting down in his head, were passing so slowly. He wasn’t even sure if he was counting correctly or if he was rushing, because he wanted it all to be over quickly. Twelve… Was he slowing down somewhat? He was being left behind by his companions. Eleven… The creatures of darkness were almost upon them now. Ten seconds… Bolts of Maelstrom were fired at them; the spider-like beasts seemed to be using their guns. Their aim was inaccurate and all the blasts missed, but there was more than one person screaming. Nine… Epsilon drew his gun and retaliated, shooting behind him indiscriminately, without decelerating. Eight… Could he hear the faint sound of an engine roaring behind them? Seven… The spider darklings continued their attack. Some of the bolts came dangerously close to hitting them. Six… His muscles were really starting to burn. He wasn’t built for this. Five… a stromling, having dashed ahead of the group was now almost caught up with him, trying to kill him. With a surprised yell, Shadow drew his weapon and knocked his pursuer back, causing it to trip. Four… He could definitely see the drop-ship now, but that made it even clearer that the pack of darklings was going to reach them first. Quantum must have thought the same, for with a motion of his arms, a lot of parts flew out of his backpack. Three… Under Quantum’s guidance, the pieces came together to build a small turret, which started rapidly firing all over the horde, pushing back the first wave just a little. Two… A spider creature reached the turret and smashed with one jab of its leg. One… A shower of bullets came from above, wreaking havoc among the stromlings’ ranks. The drop-ship now flew over the horde. Zero… His timing was a little off, but surprisingly not by far. The aircraft slowed down to match their pace. A woman stood on the flying vehicle’s opening side, ready to help them get on board. “Come on, go go go”, she shouted. Minus one, he counted, finding it strange that he’d reached that far and hadn’t been killed, yet. Jethro and Karen got on with the woman’s help one by one. Although Epsilon was ahead of him, he waited for Shadow to get on board. Minus two… He couldn’t believe he’d made it. It wasn’t exactly that he hadn’t believed they’d be able to rescue him, but rather with how much this chase had stretched into eternity, he half-believed it’d never end. But he was now safe. Oh, how glad he was that he was safe. That he could rest. As he let himself drop to the floor, feeling his muscles’ complaining even more than when he was straining them moments ago, Quantum was helped onto the ship and Epsilon jumped in alone. Minus three… They were all on board now and the drop-ship started rising higher. The sound of stromlings trying to jump onto the vessel’s rear compelled him to look back at the crowd of darklings desperately trying to keep up. Minus four… his eye caught a shadowy figure he hadn’t seen before in the distance behind the stromlings. It was human-shaped and looked dark. He tried to take a better glimpse at it, but as soon as he blinked he found out it’d vanished. What was it? “Did you see that?” “See what?” By the looks in his companions’ eyes, he could tell that none of them had any idea what he was talking about (he couldn’t see Quantum’s eyes, but his silence led him to the same conclusion). Had he imagined it? Not necessarily, it was quite possible they’d just not seen it in the midst of everything that was going on. “Nothing”. And so as the drop-ship gained altitude and led them definitively out of the Maelstrom’s reach and into safety, just as Shadow had been able to rest in his relief, he was brought back to reality with a burning question: what was the meaning of that. . . Bewαre of the shαdows becαuse I might be there. Category:The Story of a Minifigure Category:Stories Category:Shadow Book